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The Mirror Of Madmen, By: G.K. Chesterton

February 14, 2023 by Editors

The Mirror Of Madmen, By: G.K. Chesterton

    I dreamed a dream of heaven, white as frost,
    The splendid stillness of a living host;
    Vast choirs of upturned faces, line o’er line.
    Then my blood froze; for every face was mine.

    Spirits with sunset plumage throng and pass,
    Glassed darkly in the sea of gold and glass.
    But still on every side, in every spot,
    I saw a million selves, who saw me not.

    I fled to quiet wastes, where on a stone,
    Perchance, I found a saint, who sat alone;
    I came behind: he turned with slow, sweet grace,
    And faced me with my happy, hateful face.

    I cowered like one that in a tower doth bide,
    Shut in by mirrors upon every side;
    Then I saw, islanded in skies alone
    And silent, one that sat upon a throne.

    His robe was bordered with rich rose and gold,
    Green, purple, silver out of sunsets old;
    But o’er his face a great cloud edged with fire,
    Because it covereth the world’s desire.

    But as I gazed, a silent worshipper,
    Methought the cloud began to faintly stir;
    Then I fell flat, and screamed with grovelling head,
    ‘If thou hast any lightning, strike me dead!

    ‘But spare a brow where the clean sunlight fell,
    The crown of a new sin that sickens hell.
    Let me not look aloft and see mine own
    Feature and form upon the Judgment-throne.’

    Then my dream snapped: and with a heart that leapt
    I saw across the tavern where I slept,
    The sight of all my life most full of grace,
    A gin-damned drunkard’s wan half-witted face.

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